CHAPTER 23 – AND IT ALL COMES TOGETHER


Alika stood back and replaced the small book into the envelope.

“Nick and Arora?” she muttered in confusion
“What are you doing?” Matt announced as he slammed the door shut behind him
Alika spun around.
“Uh Nothing” she mumbled as he approached
She backed up hitting the table, jolting the open envelope onto the floor, spilling its contents.
“Putting your nose where it doesn’t belong?” he said swooping down to gather the objects
“What the hell are you doing with pictures of them?” Alika questioned
“That’s not your concern”
“You fucking bet it is” she cussed running toward the door.
“Don’t go any further” Matt announced pulling a gun from behind his jacket
Alika stopped dead in her tracks, the barrel of the gun centimeters from her face.
“What are you going to do, shoot me?” she remarked, starring him down in disgust
“You made a very silly move snooping where you don’t belong” he announced shaking the gun in her face
“What are you doing this for?”
“You haven’t put it together? And I thought you were smart Alika” he laughed sarcastically “Your little slut of a friend took something away from me, and she needs to pay for that”
“The stalker she killed was your cousin, wasn’t he?”
“See you are smart if you want to be. The police and big swiggs did a pretty good job of covering up what happened, but I was smarter I did a little digging, and figure this, the slut that killed my cousin was a co-worker, and your cousin. Pretty good od’s on taking revenge don’t you think”
“You put something in her pills too?” Alika mumbled, slowly piecing together events
“And it all comes together”
“But why the others?”
“All for one, one for all” he smiled
Alika held her breath, the self defense classes she’d been taking were about to come to use. She flicked up her left leg, smashing it into Matt’s arm, sending the gun flying across the room. Taking the opportunity, she darted toward the door, throwing the phone table onto the floor behind her.

She raced from the hotel, down the corridor, she could hear him behind her, as she slid around another corner, desperate to reach the elevator. She saw the large metallic doors of the elevator close meters ahead of her. making a split second decision she swerved into the stairwell bounding through the heavy wooden doors.

Her feet fell heavy against the metal stairwell, as she took the steps two at a time.
“Alika” Matt called, his voice echoing through the entire stairwell
He was closing in on her, his hand reached out and grabbed her, pulling her backwards. She struggled, elbowing him violently in the chest, he yelped in pain as he dropped his clutch on her. She slipped away from him again, he lunged toward her, grapping her leg, she spun around to face him, as she kicked him for a second time. Her footing slipped from the corner of the stair, causing her to fall backwards. Matt reached out to grab her but missed by an inch as she toppled down the flight of stairs in a chorus of screams, before slamming to the bottom in deathly silence.

~ 20 MINUTES LATER ~

“Oh My God what happened?” Tatum remarked as she stepped into the hospital room
“She fell, down the stairs, we were fooling around and she fell backwards” Matt rehearsed as soft tears formed in his eyes, perfectly on cue
“Is she going to be okay?” Tatum inquired turning to the doctor who stood over Alika’s body, hooked up to numerous contraptions.
“She had a pretty bad fall, she’s been slipping in and out of a coma since she’s been here, we are hopeful she’ll recover fully, but the next few days will be the hardest”
“Is she conscious now?”
“I'm afraid not. But we’ve always believed that a person can hear someone talking even when unconscious, so it might be an idea to stay with her a while”
Tatum nodded, as she sat down beside the bed. Matt smiled to himself, his story was pretty simple, the police had believed him, no one knew otherwise, as far as everyone was concerned, she slipped and fell, which was partly the truth. Now he only had to hope she didn’t wake up any time soon.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

“New York, Vancouver and Los Angeles?” Chastity mumbled studding the itinerary that had been put in front of her.
“You’ll have press conferences and a few record signings in each location. We need to get you out there into the public eyes again, and this will be a starter, then you’ll return have about 3 weeks to perfect the act then its off on tour” the manager smiled
“Yeah about that, I don’t think going on tour with Nsync is the best idea” Chastity added
“She’s right, we don’t exactly get on” Arora continued
“We’ve had this discussion, and I said you were going end of discussion. Look girls we sometimes have to do things that might not always appeal to us, that’s life, if this is what you want, and you want to be out there, heard on the radios known around the world, then you have to trust me, I'm doing this for your own good” he remarked before dismissing them.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

“American Airways Flight 724 destined to New York, America, is boarding now at gate 12” the overhead speaker boomed in a practiced English accent.
Tyler starred down at the small picture in her hand. It had been more than 3 years since she’d seen home, since she had fled everything, to escape to a boarding school in the old English countryside. Something had told her now was her time to return, to slowly piece together a life she once had, and to find the answer to questions that had plagued her each night. She stood from her chair, grabbing up her backpack and carry bag, as she headed for gate 12.



Chapter 24
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